


Flowers and Feathers

by deaththerabbit



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, angel au, there's some violence but its not super bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-18 19:34:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16523318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deaththerabbit/pseuds/deaththerabbit
Summary: Tori is a prince and Hajime is his guard.





	Flowers and Feathers

**Author's Note:**

> hewwo this is a birthday gift for my friend! i hope everyone enjoys reading this! also idk what im doing with titles anymore lmao rip

As the sun set over the pearly city where angels alone resided, Hajime could not help but think about the one he had spent so much of his life training to protect. He couldn’t help but think about the way his green eyes sparkled when Hajime brought him gifts from far off lands he would never be permitted to visit, and the way his soft, perfect, pink hair swayed in the wind.

It would be a lie to say that Hajime was only a little in love with the crown prince, Himemiya Tori. It figured that he would fall in love with the one person he could never have, he supposed. Even if it were an option for him to tell the prince how he felt, he knew that he would just become a stuttering, anxious mess.

Sticking with the language of flowers was the best way to do it, he supposed. At least with that, no one would know he was pronouncing his love for the prince with each new flower he left in his room when no one was around.

Tori had never mentioned the flowers, so Hajime was certain that he had never even noticed them, let alone realized what they symbolized.

He had been leaving the flowers one by one, wanting to a paint a slow picture of his love, even though it would never be returned or acknowledged. Hopeless as his love for the prince was, he was happy enough just to be able to be by his side as much as he was.

Hajime let out a small sigh and put his hand over the small pouch of lavender he kept hanging from his belt. It was soothing to him, to remind himself that there was no need for his anxieties.

He stretched out his arms one at a time, and then his legs, and finally his brilliantly white wings before rising to his feet to pass by Tori’s room once before taking a quick nap and then repeat the action.

A small sigh escaped Hajime’s lips as came to a stop next to Tori’s room. He slowly pressed his ear against the door and listened for the soft sound of Tori’s snores.

The silence that greeted his ears unnerved him. Tori was not a quiet sleeper; he either snored or mumbled in his sleep, and it was unusual for there to only be silence coming from within his room.

Casting glances down either side of the hall, Hajime scanned for anything out of place. Then it hit him; the halls had been unusually deserted when he had made his way to Tori’s room, and there was no event being held in the castle currently that would account for that, not to mention the absolute deafening silence that reigned throughout what seemed like the majority of the castle.

Hajime frowned and slowly opened Tori’s door, slipping into the dark room silently. His free hand rested on the hilt of his sword and his expression darkened faintly.

He aware that this could just be a prank that Tori was playing on him; it wasn’t that unusual for him to play pranks like this, after all. But something told him that there was something wrong.

The acrid scent of smoke met his nostrils, masking the sweet scent of the flowers he always left for Tori when no one was around. He glanced around, squinting his eyes to look for any sign of Tori with the light that seeped in from the hall behind him.

A breeze pushed the scent of smoke closer, and Hajime realized that he was not alone in the room as the faint scent of peaches drifted along with it, almost undetectable to anyone’s except Hajime’s trained nose.

Tori was undoubtedly in the room with him, judging by the peach scent that came from the especially fragrant soap that Tori liked to use, and the scent of smoke that mingled with it. As he breathed in deeply, he recognized what the scent of smoke came from. It was not from something actually being on fire, but from someone that had been starting fires and setting off explosions all across the city.

He had heard the rumors about him; had heard the reasons for what he was doing. It wasn’t as if Hajime didn’t sympathize. Losing your wings because of a simple mistake was a traumatizing event indeed, and the thought of it was almost enough to make Hajime into an anxious mess, but he could not allow anyone to lay a single hand on his prince.

Hajime unsheathed his sword, the blade lighting up the room with the light rose from the steel blade. With its light, the entire scene was laid out in front of him.

By the window, Tori was being held captive, mouth covered so that he couldn’t speak, and his big green eyes wide with fear. The one holding him backed up towards the window, glaring at Hajime darkly.

“Let his highness go.” Hajime’s voice was deceptively soft and high. He was sure that he would be underestimated because he certainly didn’t look like much. His small frame and gentle eyes and normally timid personality always threw people off.

“No. His parents have to pay for what they did to me!” The man holding Tori hostage practically spat the words at him, his hand sliding away from Tori’s mouth enough for him to speak.

“Help me!” Tori wailed, struggling weakly against his superior strength. “I don’t want to die!”

Hajime moved swiftly, fast as lightning, but not fast enough. The man backed up faster and dragged Tori over the edge of the window with him, and when Hajime peered out he could see them falling for a moment until metal wings burst out from the man’s back and they soared back into the sky again.

Hajime didn’t hesitate, leaping out the window and extending his wings to catch the updraft that had sent the man soaring high into the sky. His heart beat rapidly in his chest, anxiety and fear driving him forward.

His mind raced nearly as fast as his heart, playing multiple scenarios all at once for how this all could play out, and none of them pleasant. He couldn’t help but fear the worst, despite having been trained exactly for moments like these.

He remembered the terror in Tori’s beautiful eyes, the image seared permanently at the front of his mind. His wings beat faster and faster, sending him rocketing forward after the pair.

The wind was blowing a gale, tearing at his face like long claws, but leaving no mark. Hajime gritted his teeth, already beginning to have trouble keeping up the pace against the wind. Normally this speed would be nothing for him to keep up for a long time, but with the raging wind, it was a force difficult to fly against for long.

“Stop! Let him go!” Hajime shouted, finally getting close enough to be heard over the howling wind. It seemed as if a storm was rolling in, dark clouds moving in from the west and the faint sound of thunder coming with them.

“Fine!” The man snarled, much to Hajime’s surprise, and dropped the prince, only to latch onto his wings. He jerked his arms up violently, the action bringing Tori to a sudden halt in the middle of his fall and tearing the muscles that stretched from his wings to where they met his back.

Tori cried out painfully, his eyes shut tightly. “Sh…” He began to sob out Hajime’s surname, and then changed in the middle of it, “Hajime!” He cried.

“That’s enough of that!” The man shook Tori sharply, and dragged him up higher into the sky by his wings. He flew higher and higher, up into the clouds, which were rapidly darkening as the storm drew closer.

Hajime unsheathed his sword, narrowing his lavender eyes against the sudden rain. He stopped, his wings beating just enough to keep him aloft to be level with Tori and the man. “Let him go now.”

“Are you sure you want that? I doubt he can fly now. If I let him go, he will surely die, or do you think you can catch him before he hits the ground? I certainly won’t let you go after him without a fight.” The man smirked, awaiting Hajime’s decision.

Hajime glanced at Tori for a moment, his mind racing. Then he glanced back up at the man and sighed. “Let him go.” He tensed up, ready to go to Tori’s rescue. He was sure he was faster, was sure he could get to him before he fell too far, despite the anxious doubt niggling at the back of his mind.

“That’s a mistake.” The man let go of Tori, glancing down to watch him fall with a sickening smile on his face.

Hajime sheathed his sword and sped after his prince, completely ignoring the fact that the man was on his tail almost immediately after he dove. He ignored it when the wind tore at his wings, ignored it when the man caught up and dragged a blade through his wing, sending white feathers and golden-red blood splattering throughout the sky.

He caught up to Tori just in time, wrapping both arms around his trembling, flailing body and pulling him close against him. He wrapped his wings around the prince like a shield, protecting him from harm as they both crashed into the ground.

For a moment Hajime didn’t move, eyes shut tightly as pain radiated all throughout his body. His breaths came in quick, shallow gasps, and he couldn’t help but wonder if he was dying now.

“Ha-Haji…” Tori’s voice was close to his face, full fear and pain, and trembling far more than Hajime had ever heard it. “You can’t die, Shino! You’re not allowed!”

The way Tori put on a haughty, selfish act to hide his fears and insecurities brought a faint smile to his face. Hajime had always known that Tori was just lonely and sometimes didn’t know better with how he acted.

He knew he was scared, and so Hajime tightened his grip around the prince gently and threaded his fingers through his soft pink hair in an effort to soothe him. “I’m okay.” He promised, voice nothing more than a whisper.

“Not for long, you’re not.” The man landed lightly just a little ways away from them and quickly began approaching.

Hajime was up in an instant, swaying on his feet with Tori behind him. He rested his hand on the hilt of his sword and glared at the man. “Surrender yourself, or I’ll...I’ll…” He trailed off, his confidence beginning to fail him for a moment.

“Or you’ll what?” The man snarled, taking a step forward, bloodied dagger held loose in his hand.

Without a second thought, Hajime unsheathed his sword and stepped forward with narrowed eyes. “I’ll end you.”

“Try it.” The man stepped forward again, swiftly raising his blade to block Hajime’s strike, and reached behind his back to draw another, longer blade.

Hajime twisted away from the blade, and swung his blade back and then up viciously, just barely missing the man’s face. He abruptly changed directions, and swiped his sword down across the man’s chest, gold-tinged blood spilling from the wound.

The man hardly seemed to react, instead jabbing the longer dagger at the gap between Hajime’s light armor.

Reflexively, Hajime reached out, catching the blade in his hand and redirecting it away from his vulnerable spot. Blood dripped from his hand, as the blade dug deep into his palm, but he only rammed his knee up and into the man’s stomach.

Once he was sufficiently distracted, he twisted the blade out of the man’s hand and slammed the hilt down over his head hard enough to knock him out. The man dropped like a sack of potatoes and did not get up off the ground.

Hajime let out a sigh and relaxed, dropping the dagger and sticking his bleeding hand under his armpit to slow the bleeding a little. He turned to face Tori when he heard his frightened sniffles and frowned.

“It...it’s okay now. You’re safe…” He said softly, unable to meet Tori’s eyes as he slowly approached.

“You idiot!” Tori wailed and flung himself into Hajime’s arms. He began to openly sob, his hands digging into the leather of Hajime’s armor.

Hajime wrapped his arms tightly around Tori and frowned. “It’s okay now. I’ll never let anyone hurt you.” He gently ran his good hand through Tori’s hair and closed his eyes. “So, please don’t cry.”

“Th-that’s not it!” Tori tightened his grip around Hajime, burrowing his face against his shoulder. “I thought you were going to die! I...I don’t want to be left all alone!”

“Wh...but I’ll never leave you alone, your highness. I’ll always be here to protect you.” Hajime reassured, pulling away just a little to look into his green eyes; green eyes he had no trouble getting lost in; green eyes he wished he could stare into forever.

“B-but…” Tori sniffled and looked down.

“I promise I’ll never leave you, so don’t cry, okay?” Hajime gave him a gentle smile. “I’ll always be by your side, no matter what.”

“You’d better be.” Tori mumbled, shutting his eyes for a moment. “Sh-Shino?”

“Hm?” Hajime pulled Tori close again, running his fingers through his soft hair.

“I...I love you.” The prince mumbled and buried his reddening face against Hajime’s shoulder again with a sigh.

Hajime froze, his eyes widening in shock. He stared down at Tori for a few moments, wondering if there was a chance for them after all. He smiled faintly and rested his chin on Tori’s head gently.

“I love you too.”


End file.
